Rosalyn reaches final of TV news competition

4:32pm Thursday 3rd April 2014

AN 18-YEAR-old from Milford Haven has reached the final nine of a UK-wide competition to help discover the broadcast journalists of the future.

Pembrokeshire College media student Rosalyn Wild has made it to the final of Breaking Into News – an annual initiative by ITV News and the Media Trust to give young people with a passion for news a taste of life in the industry.

The youngest candidate in the competition, Rosalyn has been paired with ITV Wales journalist Emily Gadd, who has been on hand to mentor Rosalyn and help develop her ideas.

Rosalyn said being selected had been “amazing”.

She has already visited the ITV news studios, and spent a busy day in Cardiff filming her idea, which will show the effect of benefit cuts on young people.

Having volunteered with poverty-relief charity Pembrokeshire Action To Combat Hardship (PATCH) for six years, Rosalyn said she has seen first-hand how government cuts have made life much harder for young people.

“The main thing is they don’t get as much support,” she said.

“They don’t know as much, so they struggle to fill in forms and get the help they need.”

Rosalyn said she thought recent media coverage of the recession had been very biased, and she feels a lot of responsibility to deal with the subject sensitively.

“You have to make sure you tell it right and listen to their point,” she said.

“The news only seems to focus on people who abuse the benefit system,” she said.

“There are a lot of people who are doing it right and they’re getting affected because other others are doing it wrong.”

Rosalyn believes her experience with PATCH may have been a factor in her being shortlisted.

“I think they liked the fact I’m hands-on and have done a lot of stuff,” she said.

She said her interest in news and politics may also have helped her stand out.

“I think most young people are too busy on Facebook and don’t see what’s actually going on outside of their circle,” she said.

“Young people need to be told how politics works, they need to know.”

This Thursday (April 3), Rosalyn will show her report to a panel of industry judges, including managing editor of ITV News Robin Elias.

A winner will then be picked, and will receive an iPad and get to spend a day with ITV news.

Rosalyn, who hopes to one day become a foreign correspondent in America, said she has thoroughly enjoyed the whole process, and now has her fingers crossed for the final.